Saving Private Ryan warrants no introduction. It’s universally beloved by all when it came out and has a remarkable influence in the years after its release. To tell you the truth this is my first time watching it. I only ever got to see the first part and that’s about it. Then scant viewings from various channels with no context to what was happening. This is one of Steven Spielberg’s best films and, most of all, the best World War 2 film.
1. Omaha Beach
The introduction is synonymous with D-Day, and just a basic understanding whenever anyone looks up World War 2. This is the main highlight for anyone who watches the scene. Enough has been said with just how it’s portrayed. Technical aesthetics aside, this is one of the best openings to a film that I’ve seen. When a film tackles a very significant historical event, there must be so much care and attention to craft it and to make it presentable to the viewer as accurate as possible.
A lazy way to do it is to have the action, and to make it heroic with swelling music and just gratuitous loads of blood. In a classy way to do it is you cut the spectacle. Show it as it happened, with no music and have sparse moments of humanity. This is probably the only understandable rule when getting into this kind of movie. Any expectation that it would be a blood and guts thing is thrown out. Yes, there is the blood and gore, but it’s grounded with the gritty realistic aesthetic.
This is also probably the few instances where Spielberg’s filmography has two camps. You have the young Spielberg films that have the adventure feel to it. Then you have the mature Spielberg where the drama is at an all time high. With this movie it’s a combination of a mature film mixed with human drama. It never stoops to a level where the characters get boring, and we just wait for the Americans to kill the Nazis.
Anyways, we see Captain Miller and his squad gradually work their way to the edge and to take out the enemy artillery. The whole timing of the operation is rushed, since to be honest, no one has the time to watch a three-hour operation play out when the battalion must rescue a soldier. Just how Miller uses his authority to tell the other ranks what to do and to direct them shows that he is a competent leader in the heat of the moment.
If I were to at least say one thing on the contrary, I feel as though after this pivotal scene, no one really remembers what happens after. Don’t get me wrong, the film made money. But I feel as though as big of an opening the D-Day scene was, I understand where people or just action film aficionados just tune out after that moment. I haven’t met that person yet, but it’s an utter shame to have that person just not care or be invested in the film after the landing.
2. Soldier’s Humanity
The film’s highlight aside from the time accurate feel is the camaraderie that Miller’s battalion has. This is yet another example of how to do an ensemble film. Since the main complaint with war films in general, get it, is that the characters don’t have much depth about them. Be it that they’re soldiers and we don’t spend a good chunk of time to understand who they are, what kind of person they are, and why should I or anyone care.
It’s the personality they each display among each other to at least make them be human instead of just an inhumane killing machine. Take for instance Corporal Upham, he’s the butt of the joke of the battalion. He asks a lot of questions and doesn’t understand what FUBAR is. The only knock about him is that he is hesitant on killing. We see that play out where he won’t take the shot. Although, he speaks French and German, such as when he and his squad see a surviving Nazi soldier. The team wants to kill him for killing their medic, but Upham doesn’t agree that he should die in cold blood.
This is where the film gets interesting when they start to question Captain Miller about rescuing Private Ryan. Since they feel that it’s a lot of sacrifice for rescuing one man. That’s the main theme about the film. The sacrifice one must make no matter how small or big the odds are. The scene where the squad actually argues is my favorite moment. Just seeing them get frustrated and getting to the point where one of them goads his sergeant to shoot him is interesting. In context with other war films, you have moments of doubt, but it never permeates to an entire squad for just one moment to say no on rescuing one man.
As much as we don’t know much about Miller’s team, they give a great performance. I feel as though when they talk either by walking to the next location or waiting for the enemy is either improv or just the screenwriter being talented. I feel it was made on the spot since it feels authentic real talk. Now I don’t know if it was on the script or what, but I have to give it to the actors for given a lot of life to the soldiers.
Obviously the most painful thing to see is when they die. Spielberg holds nothing back with the violence. Especially when one of the squad mates are shot. One of them is the medic, just him slowly losing life and the entire team comforting him and just calmy asking what to do to patch him up. It’s unfortunate to watch, and it shows that there’s so much humanity and empathy being displayed. A little secret weapon when you want anyone to care about what’s happening with the troopers.
3. Legacy
The amount of influence that Saving Private Ryan had is unimaginable. One takeaway that I learned is that reading the accounts of the veterans who saw the D-Day scene. The scene is such a gruesome display of what happened that some cried in the theater or just left. It’s admirable that the V.A. established a hotline for the veterans who saw the scene.
It wouldn’t be the last time that Spielberg and Hanks had dabbled with World War 2. The duo in fact produced the beloved HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. I haven’t watched it, but now I feel it’s obligatory since that show has garnered near critical acclaim and won some awards.
This is one of the reasons why I just adore Spielberg is that he has also gotten into video games. Now, I don’t know if this film influenced him to create EA’s video game series Medal of Honor. The series was ground breaking for portraying World War 2 in an authentic view in that time. Some developers that were associated with the series, went to the studio Activision and created a rival series called Call of Duty.
4. Overall
With everything that I talked about, watch it.
Saving Private Ryan gets a five out of five.
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